


no need for proclamation

by megabees



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, I love my girls, Vignette, i would like this fic to go out of my brain, post ep 98
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megabees/pseuds/megabees
Summary: a what-if look at what would have happened if Beau and Yasha began dating during the harp scene in episode 98alternate title: 5 times the Mighty Nein didn't know Beau and Yasha were dating, and one time it was literally spelled out for them
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Comments: 2
Kudos: 162





	no need for proclamation

They have a conversation, out there on the beach. 

Yasha with her harp, and Beau, muscles unfurled, feeling at peace for the first time in a while. 

The ocean brings clarity for them. They who were not raised by the sea find their anxieties pulled out and caught in a riptide, their bodies returned to them smoothed and polished like a piece of glass swept out into the waves. In the dry plains of Kamordah, Beau had never seen the ocean. Its vast blue stares back at her, forcing her to appreciate how big it is, how she is miniscule in comparison. Beau: big and brash, loud and bold, a born leader, finds herself taking peace in the vastness. In the grand scheme of things, the ocean remains the same. She means nothing to the waves. There is peace in this. If nothing matters, she can do what she wants. 

Similarly, Yasha grows up in the Moorlands, surrounded by hills and grasses, but the rocks don’t best the constance of the waves, crashing and settling on the shore. For her, someone who struggles so much with desire, with understanding that her mind is her own, the waves show an unstoppable force. A small child can try to stop the waves from their end, but they always come to the shore anyway. Her path may deviate, like the waves occasionally fade, but she comes back to the same place. Her harp, calming. The waves, swelling and settling. Her mind is her own, she takes fate by the hand. 

In front of the ocean, two women come to similar conclusions, and they have a conversation. 

They leave the beach holding hands, a new relationship formed. 

\-------------------------------------------------

The Nein catch on far slower than they realistically should. Yasha and Beau aren’t hiding it, per say. They’re just not making a grand announcement. 

That’s how the Nein does things. You keep a secret until someone weasels it out of you, and then it’s known. There’s no need for a proclamation.

Or so Beau and Yasha thought. After the past three weeks, full of longing glances and not hiding the way they act around each other, they’re beginning to doubt the obviousness of their actions. 

\------------------------------------------------

They tried to hint to Jester, that day on the boat making statues for the Traveler, through subtle flirting and glances, but she never noticed.

“You have really good legs, Yasha”, Jester remarked. 

Beau catches Yasha’s eye as she says it, gives her a little up and down look. Calculating, as if she wants to know each and every inch of Yasha’s legs. 

Heat flashes up Yasha’s face. 

“Yeah, the slit was very, uh, high. Helped with moving around.” 

Another knowing glance from Beau to Yasha. When Beau thinks of that night, she thinks of two things. Firstly, the Ruby’s singing and the hypnotic way the fish moved around her. Secondly, she thinks of the way Yasha looked in that dress, shades of grey, black and white illuminating her eyes and her lips. 

As the conversation gets more intense, Beau can’t help her hand from drifting behind Yasha, using it partly to steady herself on the slow rocking of the boat and partly to just get closer. 

Yasha makes a similar move, placing her hand on Beau’s lower thigh, as she once again apologizes for running Beau through with Skingorger. 

“It just adds to my aesthetic. Makes me look more interesting.” Beau is so focused on the hand, slowly and comfortingly rubbing her thigh that she almost misses Yasha’s flustered compliment towards. 

“You’re already very interesting….You’re both very interesting.” 

It’s Beau’s turn to flush. Don’t think she hasn’t noticed Yasha’s propensity to hide a compliment to her within a compliment to everyone. It’s cute. 

It’s fun to be in those stages of a relationship, learning those new things about each other. 

Jester’s probably too busy thinking of Travelercon, they can keep it lowkey for a little longer. 

\----------------------------------------

It turns out though, that neither of them is *great* at keeping things low key. 

If you ask Beau, it’s Yasha’s fault. Yasha’s too beautiful and talented, and she keeps showing it off. That harp haunts a few of Beau’s dreams. 

(Harps require some deft finger skills, if you catch the drift.) 

Yasha gets up to perform for the village of Vo, and she’s surrounded by all these people. Beau watches the way her hands shake, how she searches the crowd for a familiar face, and yells out “Freebird!” so that Yasha can find her. 

For Yasha, Beau’s a grounding face in the crowd of people. Someone who doesn’t care how she does, who just is there to support her. All of the Nein is, but this song is for Beau. 

Caleb lights Yasha up with silent bolts of lightning, mesmerizing the entire village of Vo, illuminating Yasha with her own personal spotlight.

It’s funny, you know. Prior to meeting Yasha, Beau had always hated storms. In the winery, grapes that got too much rain produced thin and watery wine, and when there was a thunderstorm, the workers couldn’t harvest the grapes. It meant her dad was always angry when there was a storm. Loss of profit, and all that. 

Once she met Yasha though, a storm signified Yasha for her. Thunder became part of the comforting rumble of sleeping with the Nein, and lightning illuminated how different her life looked from five years ago. 

Even when Yasha was gone, Beau hoped every night to hear a storm. Maybe it meant Yasha was returning to them. 

So it’s not her fault she’s put in a stupor by Yasha’s performance. That’s her girl. 

It unlocks a deluge of feelings in her chest. Beau’s shell-shocked, as the Nein discusses the performance absent of Yasha. 

She can’t help but allow herself to chime in. 

“That was amazing.” 

She makes sure to tell Yasha how amazing it is later that night, in hushed tones wrapped up together. 

\----------------------------------------------

After that, they begin to find their stride in how they act around their friends. 

In battle, Yasha has a free pass to be as protective as she wants. Beau’s more fragile than she, and is somehow easily swallowed? Yasha’s confused on how the beasts they keep fighting manage to find Beau in their mouths more than anyone else. 

Either way, Beau usually ends up taking more damage than anyone else notices. 

Nothing against Jester or Cad as healers, but they tend to focus on the group’s overall health levels, and Beau likes to play off her injuries. 

Vulnerability isn’t easy for Beau, so Yasha keeps a watchful eye. 

She’s already lost one partner, she doesn’t need to lose another. 

They’re traipsing through the forest, and Yasha looks away for one moment, and suddenly Beau is on the ground unconscious. 

Nosy Expositor can’t keep her hands to herself, Yasha supposes.

She gets Beau back up, taking lightning damage and healing her.

For Yasha, her healing hands are a way of showing Beau her affection. They symbolize forgiveness, and they symbolize hope. It’s just a way of showing how she cares. Yasha’s not great with words, she speaks through her actions, and she hopes Beau understands. 

That being said, as if she’s gonna let her girlfriend get healed by just Fjord. 

“It’s not a competition, okay!” 

“It’s a competition.” 

Fjord’s got nothing on her. She’s there for Beau. 

This is re-enforced, of course, when Beau asks Yasha to carry her following the fight. There was a time, when Yasha was just regaining her mind, where Beau asked Caleb to carry her following the fight with Obann instead of Yasha, and while Yasha would never admit it to Beau, it hurt a little. 

Carrying Beau is Yasha’s thing. They’ve had this joke running through the time they’ve spent together, and Yasha isn’t a fan of other people trying to butt in on that. 

Perhaps she’s a bit protective, a bit jealous of Beau. How is she to not be, though, when she was gone for so long and Beau got so much closer with everyone else. For Yasha, post-Obann was a new fear. The Nein had pursued her for so long, but they also made new friends, and what if the Nein had liked them more than they liked Yasha? It’s hard to feel like part of a group when you’re never there. Plus, she was helping someone raise a terrible god, and killing Beau’s co-workers, and while none of it was in her control, she did it. 

The fact that the Nein forgave her? That Beau forgave her and still wants to be with her? 

Yasha’s still not sure how she got so lucky. 

This thought is reinforced with Beau in her arms as they walk through the forest to face a false god. Yasha loves to be able to help. Jester and Cad might be the healers, but Yasha loves the feeling of Beau’s small, lithe body in her arms.  
She just wants to hold Beau forever, shelter her from any oncoming attacks. 

It’s with this thought that she misses Beau giving Jester a thumbs up as they venture further into the forest. 

Who needs subtlety? 

\----------------------------------------------

When Yasha catches Beau in the air with her new wings, part of her is sure it’s gonna tip off the rest of the group. 

It’s so romantic. It was probably a beautiful visual. 

Unfortunately, it seems like the rest of the Nein is either being incredibly dense or incredibly respectful, and Yasha’s too held up in her brand new wings to decide which they are. 

She flies up and over the mountain with Beau swooning in her arms, and it’s perfect. The sun casts a beautiful golden haze over the island, and Beau’s skin shines in the sunlight. 

Yasha might have the wings, but Beau is her angel. 

Then the wings disappear and they plummet into a shallow pond. 

Yasha’s not thrilled the wings last for such little time, but at least she gets to see Beau soaking wet from the pond, giggly and delighted at the flight. 

In that moment, Yasha is overwhelmed with love. It’s too early to say, but she’s been in love before. She knows what that rush feels like, that off balance feeling of “oh shit I’m in deep”. 

A small secret, then. Something to unpack on her own time. There’s no need to speed it up, to burden Beau with this until she’s ready. 

This love, it can be just hers to have for a bit. She’s allowed to want that. 

Beau brings her back to herself, pulling her out of the pond and her own thoughts in one fell swoop. 

Holding hands and giggling, they make their way to the edge of the cliffside, overlooking the mountain awash in sunlight. Looking out, Yasha is overcome and she leans over to give Beau a quick peck on the lips. 

“I’m happy to have you here with me.” 

“Oh? That true, sap?” 

Yasha laughs, nodding her head and breaking eye contact, and leads Beau to the edge to point the way down back to their friends. 

“We should probably head back, they’re gonna think we’re dead.”

They take a little extra time on the way down though since the Nein hasn’t noticed their other hints. It’s put to good use. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

The day they visit Molly’s grave is when they give up any attempt to be subtle at all. Throughout Rumblecusp and the days after, their relationship has switched from being a complete secret to being something that they could easily explain if asked, but no one has outright asked them if they’re dating, so it just hasn’t happened. 

They've been hinting, for sure. Even Caduceus had a very meaningful conversation with Yasha about being able to want things and patience, and Jester and Veth keep giving Beau looks when they think she should make a move. 

Yasha and Beau talk about it at night. It’s funny to them that everyone keeps dancing around the topic. Neither of them is sure about where they got the idea that they can’t just ask, but it’s fun to just have this to themselves. 

Until they go to visit Molly’s...no..Lucien’s? grave. 

Yasha has a lot of feelings around Molly and his grave, and she’s not exactly thrilled by Caleb’s suggestion that they dig him up to get some answers to questions they don’t even know yet. Feels almost rude, to take a friend out of the ground to inquire about his personal life. 

She mentions it to Beau, in a hushed whisper, and Beau attempts to stop Caleb’s focused energy by hinting heavily at it, but his focus is so intense that he brushes her, and Jester, who picks up on both Beau and Yasha’s discomfort, off. 

He gets like that sometimes. 

They teleport there, and Yasha is struck by how normal it looks. His coat is still there, though it’s blown off the stake they put in to mark his grave, and for a moment, she lets herself hope that he’s still there. 

Beau’s hand finds its way into hers as they watch Veth and Cad dig up the grave, a thread of reality keeping Yasha tethered there, eyes locked onto the now empty grave. 

She removes her hand from Beau’s, and instead moves it to the small of Beau’s back, pulling Beau closer to her for comfort. Beau’s body is tiny, but it’s something to grasp as they both figure out what this means for their future. 

At one of the lowest moments since she regained her mind, Beau is there with her. 

She squeezes Beau’s hand once. Beau squeezes back. They’re ready to tell everyone now. 

\---------------------------------- 

They tell everyone in Caleb’s fancy tower, after Yasha decides to throw caution to the wind and make a joke about Beau’s fancy sex mirror above her bed. 

Jester and Veth are overjoyed, Fjord and Caleb both want to make sure they’re taking care of each other and won’t mess up the group, and Caduceus just nods happily, though they’re sure he knew all along. 

As they sit around the fire, Yasha and Beau link pinkies and bask in the laughter and joy of their family. 

Things will be okay.


End file.
